Economical photovoltaic power generation with heat recovery

Three designs for conversion of solar radiation to electricity and thermal energy are analyzed. The objective of these converters is to increase the electric and thermal output for each photovoltaic array so as to lower the cell cost relative to the amount of energy delivered. An analysis of the economical aspects of conversion by photovoltaic cells with heat recovery is carried out in terms of hypothetical examples. Thus, it is shown that the original cost of say $40,000 per generated kilowat can be reduced to $572.00 per kilowatt by increasing the original electric output of 1 kW to 10 kW in electricity and 60 kW in thermal energy. The newly derived specific cost is only 1.4 percent of the original one. It is expected that a cost reduction of roughly 2% of the present specific cost per kilowatt will greatly stimulate public acceptance of photovoltaic terrestrial conversion to electricity.